What began “innocently” with the sale of smoothies is now being expanded to include plant drinks. With its new products, the innocent brand also focuses on natural ingredients and a clean recipe. We learned more about the development of Innocent from Senior Brand Manager Christina Müller.
What distinguishes your products from other vegetable milk suppliers?
For innocent chilled plant drinks, only three or four simple, natural ingredients are put in the bottle. Depending on the variety, the product consists of oats, almonds or hazelnuts and rice as well as spring water and a pinch of sea salt.
Which varieties did you start with?
The innocent plant drinks are available in three delicious varieties: oat, almond and hazelnut & rice. Since the end of last year, the novelties have been on Rewe’s refrigerated shelves – right next to the innocent smoothies and juices. From March, the plant drinks will also be available from other retail partners.
What experience have you already had with plant milk products in other markets?
The innocent plant drinks were introduced in the UK at the beginning of 2018 and are already enjoying great popularity here. In the meantime, the innocent coconut drink has been added to the range of plant drinks. In Great Britain, the category of chilled plant drinks is already more established in the market. In Germany, the segment of plant drinks is growing strongly, but is absolutely underrepresented, especially in refrigeration, while in Great Britain 30 percent of the products can already be found in refrigerated shelves.
How is business with smoothies and chilled juices going in general?
Our core business continues to be smoothies and chilled juices. Here we were able to further expand our market share in 2018 and are the market leader in both categories in classic food retailing.
How does Innocent advertise its products?
In innocent’s advertising, we rely on a mix of classic media such as posters, TV and radio to increase reach. Due to our very active target group, the share of digital media in the media mix of social media via classic display campaigns has also increased in recent years.
How will the vegan lifestyle in Europe develop over the next few years?
If you take a look at the UK or the USA, a clear picture emerges: plant drinks are already strongly established in the market here and it is hard to imagine life without them. In Great Britain, for example, the market volume of plant drinks is three times larger than in Germany. In Germany, too, we expect strong growth in the nutrition trend over the next few years. Market researchers at Mintel see a tendency among young consumers in particular to move away from animal products.
